Achilles Heel

III. Repercussion

         When [F/n] came to, the girl found herself in an unknown place staring up at the ceiling. Her arms were neatly taken care of, bandaged up, but besides that she saw nothing out of place about herself. Slowly, she positioned herself to sit upright, wincing at the blunt trauma in her abdomen, on what looked to be a cot next to a window. Sunlight poured through the glass as her mind buzzed with a slight ringing in her right ear.

"[F/n]! [F/n]!" it called out, becoming less distorted by the second. "[F/n]... finally woke... had fainted... in trouble." 'Izuku-kun...?'

Dazed but awake, the girl rotated her head toward the familiar voice. Sitting beside her bed were Midoriya and the red-haired boy. She had no idea who he was, so she didn't respond to her friend's comment. "Here, I brought your notebook," a teary-eyed Midoriya dug through her backpack to hand her the notebook she used for communicating and a pencil. Her hand still stung from slapping Bakugou, though had gotten better in time. Midoriya took notice and tenderly placed both the pencil and notebook in his best friend's lap, anxiously waiting for a response.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" said an elderly voice. "You've been out for quite some time now." Meandering with intent came a little old lady with a gentle smile on her face. She gave off the vibe of somebody's grandma, which put [F/n] at ease. "Now dearie," she began, standing beside her cot. "I will ask you a few questions since you had hit your head when tussled to the ground. Do you remember your name?"

[F/n] nodded as she opened her notebook to a clean page. '[L/n] [F/n].'

Recovery Girl gave a short nod before continuing. "Do you know where you are?"

'U.A.'s nurse's office?'

"Do you remember what happened?"

Silence. She did but wished to forget. Although the mute girl didn't respond, her body told Recovery Girl that she remembered. Her hands trembled as they tried to grasp the pencil and notebook. Tears whelmed up and fell, leaving stains of pain and sorrow behind on paper. Recovery Girl took a mental note of this and nodded. "Seeing that you have rested for good while, I think it is safe to send you home with your friends, okay? I also informed your parents and homeroom teacher Aizawa about this incident." She frowned, "I'm sorry you had to experience that, sweetie. Your teacher will handle this for you, okay?"

[F/n] didn't know whether she was happy or not that Bakugou got in trouble. To her, it only meant enduring more torturous beatings and degrading from the boy. At least the adults here take action unlike in middle school. "[F/n]," Midoriya tearfully exclaimed. "I was so worried when I heard Kacchan... I... I..." Out came Niagara Falls. [F/n] furrowed her brows. Was it really that bad? "You were bl-bleeding from your arms and, and—!" She leaned over to her friend gingerly embracing the overly emotional broccoli boy.

'Bleeding? I don't remember bleeding.' Trying hard to think back at what happened, [F/n] closed her eyes and attempted to remember.

Flashback

[F/n] watched helplessly on the ground, saliva and tears running down her face from the blunt trauma. Her breathing was laboured with a wheeze at the end of each breath. For some reason, her arms were aching more than usual. Did she break something? Slowly her [e/c] eyes shifted downwards to see dark crimson covering both arms.

'What? What was that?' she thought, squinting at the blurry limbs. 'Oh... I remember... my cuts... they must've broken open when I landed on them.' As blood slowly accumulated at her midsection, her consciousness slipped into darkness.

Flashback ends

This wasn't something she wanted to explain, especially with a complete stranger—Kirishima—nearby. [F/n] ignored his remark, glancing from Kirishima to Recovery Girl, then back to Midoriya. She shifted her gaze downward at her arms that were still around her best friend, sharply inhaling at the sight of white bandages. "Let's go," she whispered, slowly letting go of Midoriya. He nodded, wiping his eyes with his uniform sleeve.

Turning toward Kirishima, she wrote, 'Thank you for saving me,' and offered a tender smile.

Kirishima blushed slightly at the wording, giving her his signature toothy smile. "No problem. I thought I heard a commotion and ran as fast as I could to see what was going on. My name is Kirishima Eijirou." He extended his hand to her.

The action was somewhat foreign to her since most people ignored her like background noise. 'My name is [L/n] [F/n], nice to meet you.' She wrote. [F/n] hesitantly took his hand, not sure what to do after making contact. When he let go, she did too.

"I should be going now," Kirishima got up, beaming at the recovering girl, Midoriya, and Recovery Girl before grabbing his backpack behind the chair he was sitting on. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" waved the boy as he left the nurse's office.

"Bye, Kirishima!" Midoriya replied, who seemingly knew the redhead before this moment. "Here, I'll carry your backpack for you, [F/n]."

She nodded, slowly and carefully getting out of the cot with both the cot's bars and Midoriya's help. [F/n] never anticipated how difficult it'd to stand up after being knocked out, let alone walk. A few staggered steps had her clutching the curtain between the cots.

"Careful, dear." Recovery Girl began, grabbing a nearby chair for [F/n] to sit on. "Take things slowly. You're still shook up after the incident." [F/n] nodded, taking a seat before trying once more, this time slower.

When she finally regained strength in her legs, the timid girl gestured a 'thank you' to the nurse. Recovery Girl waved goodbye to the two who walked arms linked to one another, watching as they rounded a corner out of sight.

Meanwhile...

Of course, someone told a teacher about this. "That motherfucker," Katsuki hissed, touching the purple-blue bruise along his jaw. He sat on the couch in his living room as his mother talked with a teacher on the phone.

"Oh no! He did that?" His mom, Bakugou Mitsuki, replied as she glared at her son. "I apologize that my stupid son was in a fight. Mhm..." Silence. "He did WHAT?!" If looks could kill, Katsuki would be dead. The red eyes that she passed down to her son pierced the back of his head. "Is she all right? In the nurse's office. She fainted...?!" Mitsuki pulled the phone away from her ear, covering the transmitter with her hand. "KATSUKI YOU LITTLE PUNK! BULLYING BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE?! THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN IF YOU WEREN'T SO FUCKING ARROGANT!" Kicking off her slipper, Mitsuki flung it at her son. "I'm sorry about that," she said, taking her hand off the transmitter.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU OLD HAG!" His temper was just like his mother's. Short.

"Could you give me the address to their house? I would like to have my son apologize to her. Mhm, okay. Oh! That's near Midoriya's home!"

"Deku... fucking nerd."

"Thank you so much. Again, so sorry about my son. I'll talk with him. Okay, thank you. Bye." The moment she hung up Mistuki hurled the phone at him. "YOU DAMN BRAT!!!"

"YOU WANNA FIGHT YOU UGLY BITCH?!" Katsuki grabbed the coffee table but fell over when his mother kicked the couch into him.

"G-guys, honey, please don't. We still haven't paid off our mortgage..." The timid husband/father Masaru peered around the corner, wincing as the two butted heads. "Katsuki... What did we tell you about bul—"

"HAH?!" Katsuki was pinned to the floor, getting slapped repeatedly by Mitsuki before he kicked her off. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

Masaru let out an uneasy sigh, swallowing the courage he had built up. "N-nothing..."

"HEY HONEY!" Mitsuki shouted while pulling at Katsuki's hair. "KATSUKI AND I ARE GOING TO GO APOLOGIZE," her hand yanking at her son's hair as she enunciated the last word. "SO, WE'LL BE BACK IN A FEW MINUTES." Masaru watched as his wife dragged their son out the front door. SLAM.